2.

0 Basic Characteristic of Soil

Atterberg Limit

Presented by;
Norhazizi bin Abdul Muthalib
Civil Engineering Department Polimas
 SOIL - WATER RELATIONSHIPS
Ground Surface (G.S.)

Water Table (W.T.)

Water

Air

Voids
Solids
2
 WATER IN SOILS
1- Chemically Bonded Water (within the structure of the crystals)
2- Adsorbed Water ( Thickness ~ 0.005 x10-6)
3- Oven Drying Water (12hr to 24 hr ; No changes in Vv if dry)
4- Air Drying
5- Free Gravitational Water
3
2 SOLID
5
1
SOLID
1

5
4
3
 Atterberg Limits
• Terzaghi (1925) is generally credited with recognizing the use of the
liquid and plastic limits as consistency index.
• Atterberg’s original procedure for determining the liquid limit was
modified (Casagrande, 1932) to improve the reproducibility of the
test.
• The liquid and plastic limits are performed on cohesive soils that are
usually air dried, pulverized, and sieved through a No. 40 sieve.
Outside the United States similar sieve sizes are used—the No. 40 is
0.422 mm where several alternatives use a 0.400 mm mesh opening.
• Oven drying is never done to produce a sievable soil. Air drying is
commonly done but may lower the liquid limit from 2 to 6 percent
unless the soil to be used is then prewetted for 24 to 48 hours prior
to making the tests.
 Atterberg Limits

• Even prewetting may not fully recover the liquid limit for some soils.
The plastic limit does not seem to be much affected by air drying.
• Some laboratories suggest washing the sample through the No. 40
sieve and using the sediments for the liquid limit test.
• There are at least two disadvantages to this procedure; one is that
the test takes much longer to run.
• More important, however, is that the sedimentation process
segregates the clay particles so that very careful mixing on the part
of the technician is necessary to produce the same distribution as in
the raw soil.
• The liquid and plastic limit tests are reasonably reproducible and
repeatable even with inexperienced operators.
 Atterberg
• Albert Atterberg was a Swedish chemist and agricultural
scientist.
• Conducted studies to identify the specific minerals that give a
clayey soil its plastic nature
• Stated that depending on the water content, soil may appear
in four states:
 Solid (no water)
 semi-solid (brittle, some water)
 plastic (moldable)
 liquid (fluid)
• In each state the consistency and behavior of a soil is different
and thus so are its engineering properties.
• The boundary between each state can be defined based on a
change in the soil's behavior.
 Atterberg Limits

Fluid soil-water
Liquid State
mixture
Liquid Limit, LL

Plastic State
Increasing water

Plastic Limit, PL
Semisolid State
content

Shrinkage Limit, SL

Solid State
Dry Soil

7
 Atterberg Limits

Border line water contents, separating the

different states of a fine grained soil

water content
0 Shrinkage Plastic Liquid
limit limit limit

brittle- semi- plastic liquid

solid solid

8
 Liquid Limit-LL

•Casagrande Method •Cone Penetrometer Method

•(ASTM D4318-95a) •(BS 1377: Part 2: 1990:4.3)
•Professor Casagrande standardized •This method is developed by the
the test and developed the liquid Transport and Road Research
limit device. Laboratory, UK.
•Multipoint test •Multipoint test
•One-point test •One-point test

9
 4.2.1 Casagrande Method
Device ;

N = 25 blows
Closing distance
= 12.7mm (0.5 in)
≈ 13 mm

The water content, in percentage, required to close a

(Holtz and Kovacs, distance of 0.5 in (12.7mm) along the bottom of the
1981) groove after 25 blows is defined as the liquid limit
Casagrande Device
Casagrande Device
 Casagrande Method
•Multipoint Method

N
w1  w2
Flow index , I F  (choose a positive value)
log  N 2 / N1 
Das, 1998

w   I F log N  cont. 13
 Liquid Limit

• The liquid limit (LL) is the water content where a soil

changes from plastic to liquid behavior.
• Uses a Casagrande device.
• Soil is placed into the cup portion of the device and a
groove is made down its center.
• The cup is repeatedly dropped until the 13 mm (½
inch) groove is closed.
• The moisture content at which it takes 25 drops of the
cup to cause the groove to close is defined as the
liquid limit.
 Cone Penetrometer Method
•Device

This method is developed

by the Transport and Road
Research Laboratory.

(Head, 1992)
Cone Penetrometer Method
•Multipoint Method

Penetration of cone (mm)

20 mm

LL
 Cone Penetrometer Method
The fall cone test has been used to increase the reproducibility of the liquid
limit. This method purports to eliminate all the shortcomings of the current
test as just itemized.
Basic essentials of the fall cone test are shown in Fig. below;
Water Content (wc %)

Fall cone test for liquid limit.

Standard 300 cone is brought
into contact with soil and
clamped. At time zero cone is
released and penetration at end
L.L of 5 seconds is recorded. Water
content of soil is determined,
cup emptied, and test repeated
as necessary at other water
contents to produce a semi-log
curve of w versus penetration.
20 mm Penetration, d (mm)
Cone Penetration Test

- obtain the (-) No. 40 soil, just as for the liquid limit test. The difference is that it is a
larger quantity and is placed in the cup shown in Fig. 1.
- The cone tip is brought into contact with the soil surface and time-initialized.
- The cone is released for a free-fall into the soil and the penetration at the end of 5
seconds is recorded.
- Since the water content for a penetration depth of 20 mm (defines LL) would be a
chance occurrence, several trials at different water contents on both sides of 20-
mm penetration are used to construct a semi-logarithmic plot of penetration versus
water content.
- One enters this curve at 20 mm (log scale) and reads the liquid limit on the water
content scale similarly to obtaining the LL from a blow count of 25 with the regular
test.
- The liquid limit can be statistically determined for a soil stratum, but in practice this
is seldom done.
- In small building sites only a few values are determined in any layer—perhaps 1 to
at most 5. This number of values is too few for any valid statistical conclusions so
the values are either individually used or at most simply averaged.
 Cone Penetrometer Method
•One-point Method (an empirical relation)

(Review by Head, 1992)

Example: Penetration depth  15 mm, w  40%,

Factor  1.094, LL  40(1.094)  44
 Plastic Limit

• The plastic limit (PL) is the water content

where soil starts to exhibit plastic
behavior.
• A thread of soil is at its plastic limit when it
is rolled to a diameter of 3 mm and
crumbles.
 Plastic Limit-PL

(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

The plastic limit PL is defined as the water content at which a

soil thread with 3.2 mm diameter just crumbles.
ASTM D4318-95a,
BS1377: Part 2:1990:5.3
 Shrinkage limit

• The shrinkage limit (SL) is the water content

where further loss of moisture will not
result in any more volume reduction

• The shrinkage limit is much less commonly

used than the liquid limit and the plastic
limit.
 Shrinkage Limit-SL

• “Although the shrinkage limit was a popular classification test

during the 1920s, it is subject to considerable uncertainty and
thus is no longer commonly conducted.”
• “One of the biggest problems with the shrinkage limit test is
that the amount of shrinkage depends not only on the grain
size but also on the initial fabric of the soil. The standard
procedure is to start with the water content near the liquid
limit. However, especially with sandy and silty clays, this often
results in a shrinkage limit greater than the plastic limit, which
is meaningless. Casagrande suggests that the initial water
content be slightly greater than the PL, if possible, but
admittedly it is difficult to avoid entrapping air bubbles.”
(from Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)
 Shrinkage Limit-SL

Definition of
shrinkage limit:
The water content
at which the soil
volume ceases to
SL
change is defined
as the shrinkage
limit.

(Das, 1998)

24
 Plasticity Index

• The plasticity index (PI) is a measure of the

plasticity of a soil.
• The plasticity index is the size of the range of
water contents where the soil exhibits plastic
properties.
• The PI is difference between the liquid limit and
the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL).
– Soils with a high PI tend to be clay,
– Soils with a lower PI tend to be silt,
– Soils with a PI of 0 tend to have little or no silt
or clay.
 Plasticity Index (PI)

Range of water content over which the soil

remains plastic

Plasticity Index = Liquid Limit – Plastic Limit

water content
0 Shrinkage Plastic Liquid
limit limit limit

plastic 26
 Indices
•Plasticity index PI •Liquidity index LI
•For describing the range of •For scaling the natural water
water content over which a content of a soil sample to
soil was plastic the Limits.
•PI = LL – PL w  PL w  PL
LI  
PI LL  PL
Liquid State C
w is the water content
Liquid Limit, LL
PI Plastic State B
Plastic Limit, LI <0 (A), brittle fracture if
Semisolid State A PL
sheared
Shrinkage Limit, 0<LI<1 (B), plastic solid if sheared
SL
Solid LI >1 (C), viscous liquid if
State
sheared
 Indices
Clay
particle
•Sensitivity St (for clays) w > LL
Water
Strength (undisturbe d )
St 
Strength (disturbed )
Unconfined shear strength

(Holtz and Kavocs, 1981) 28

 Activity of Clay Soil

• Activity A • Inactive clays : A < 0.75

•Normal clays : 0.75 < A <1.25
• (Skempton, 1953)
•Active clays : A > 1.25
PI • High activity : A > 1.50
A
% clay fraction ( weight ) • large volume change when wetted
clay fraction :  0.002 mm @ 2m • Large shrinkage when dried
• Very reactive (chemically) Mitchell, 1993

Purpose
Both the type and amount
of clay in soils will affect the
Atterberg limits. This index
is aimed to separate them.
29
 Engineering Applications
• Soil classification
(the next topic)
 The Atterberg limit
enable clay soils to be
classified.

• The Atterberg limits are usually correlated with some engineering properties
such as the permeability, compressibility, shear strength, and others.
 In general, clays with high plasticity have lower permeability, and they are
difficult to be compacted.
 The values of SL can be used as a criterion to assess and prevent the excessive
cracking of clay liners in the reservoir embankment or canal.
 Atterberg Limits
Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
• Relatively cheap • Operator dependent
• Easy to perform • Designed for
• In the rules geotechnical
engineering –
foundations etc.
 Plasticity Chart
Purely based on LL and PI
Intermediate plasticity

Low High
60 plasticity plasticity
Plastic Index

40
Clays (C)

20 Silts (M & O)

0
0 20 100
35 50
Liquid Limit
Plasticity Chart
 Use of Liquid & Plastic Limits

• Used internationally for soil identification and

soil classification (AASHTO)
LAB PROCEDURE FOR
DETERMINE;
1. Moisture Content (m)
2. Liquid Limit Test (LL)
3. Plastic Limit Test (PL)
• Moisture content or Water content
is the quantity of water contained in a
soil sample.
• Based on BS 1377 Part 2 (1990)
• Mix sample using small spatulas.

• Quartering
• Take around a portion of sample for testing
after mixing.
• Take one clean and dry container and
weigh.(M1)
• Take around 100g of sample and put it in a
container.
• Weigh the weight of container
and sample.
(M2).
• Dry the sample in oven (105º – 110º) around
(16 to 24 hours)
• After drying remove sample from oven and
allow it drying in a desiccators.
• When the sample has cooled down, remove it
and weigh (M3).
• The moisture content (w) is calculated as a %
of the dry soil mass.
• The equation is :-
• W= M2 - M3 X 100%
M3 - M1
W=moisture content %
M1= mass of container
M2= mass of container & wet soil sample
M3= mass of container & dry soil sample
• Most of other test such as compaction ,
triaxial test needs to know the moisture
content of the soil for futher calculations.
• It gives an indication of undrained strength.
LIQUID LIMIT
 INTRODUCTION

• The liquid limit is the empirically

established moisture content at which a
soil passes from the liquid state to the
plastic state.
 PROCEDURE

• Based on BS 1377 Part 2 (1990)

• Take about 100g of pre-prepared sample and
put it on the glass plate.
• Mix the soil with distilled water into a
homogeneous paste using the two palette
knives.
• Mix for at least 10 minutes.
• Adjust the moisture content to that
corresponding to a cone penetration of
between 15mm and 25mm.
• With the cone locked in the raised position
lower the supporting assembly so that the tip
of the cone just touches the surface of the
soil.
• Record the reading of the dial gauge to the
nearest 0.1mm.
• Release the cone for period of 5± 1s.
• Record the difference between the beginning
and end of the drop as the cone penetration.
 calculation

• Liquid limit = moisture content × factor

(express the result to the nearest whole
number)
 APPLICATION

• To classify fine grained soil and the fine

fraction of mixed soil.
PLASTIC LIMIT
 INTRODUCTION

• The plastic limit is defined as the moisture

content at which a soil thread just begins to
crack and crumble when rolled to a diameter
of 3 mm.
 PROCEDURE

• Based on BS 1377 Part 2 (1990)

• Take about 20g of the soil sample paste from
the liquid limit test.
• Roll the sample on the glass plate with the
palm.
• Divide this samples of about 10g each and
carry out separate determination on each
portion.
• Rolled to about 3mm in diameter size.

• Dry the sample in oven (105º – 110º) around

(16 to 24 hours).
• Record the dry weight and determine the
moisture content as specified in the moisture
content test.
• Take 2 metal containers and record their
identification on the containers and weigh
each container separately and record their
weight.
 CALCULATION

• moisture content of both duplicate of the

sample tested. If the two results differ by
more than 0.5% moisture content, repeat the
whole test.
• Calculation the average of the two moisture
content values and express the values to the
nearest whole number.
 APPLICATIONS

• To classify fine grained soil and the fine

fraction of mixed soil.
 Atterberg Limits

Liquid Limit (wL or LL):

Clay flows like liquid when w > LL

Plastic Limit (wP or PL):

Lowest water content where the clay is still plastic

Shrinkage Limit (wS or SL):

At w<SL, no volume reduction on drying